Multiobjective Comparative Analysis Between an Organic Production System and a Conventional Production System

Abstract

Presently, world agricultural production finds itself in full development with the objective of supplying both human and animal food necessities. This way, technological advance in fertilizers and chemical fertilizers production is in full expansion and were identified, through studies about natural resources sustainability, problems for today's and future generations, caused by the contamination of food, water resources and soil. Nowadays, a change in humanity's food matrix is gradually occurring, which consists in the exchange of food proceeding from a conventional technologic model with the usage of agrochemicals (pesticides and chemical fertilizers) to a kind of agriculture based on organic management, in which stands out the usage of naturally originated fertilizers (manure, ashes, leaves, etc) and ecological management of plagues, diseases and others. The present work had the objective of making a multiobjective comparative analysis between a production system that utilizes conventional management (using agrochemicals) and a production system that utilizes organic management, based on the irrigated perimeter of Epitácio Pessoa Reservoir, that is geographically located between the coordinates 07°28'4" and 07°33'32" of south latitude, 36°08'23" and 36°16'51" of west longitude, on a 420m altitude, in the city of Boqueirão, State of Paraíba, Brazil. However, was utilized a multiobjective optimization model for optimal allocation of water for irrigated agriculture, developed by GOTA (Grupo de Otimização Total da Água - Water Total Optimization Group) from UFCG. Two scenarios were elaborated, one for conventional agriculture and other for organic agriculture, taking as objectives the net budget maximization, the labour usage maximization and the minimization of defensives and fertilizers, to a 10 climatic years series. According to the study, it can be noticed that occurred economical and social gains referring to the sustainable usage of organic food, principally in the rising of labour used in organic agriculture, as well as environmental gains.